Starting To Really Hate My Job

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lonegreywolf20

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I have been with this private EMS company for over two years. In that two years I have seen EMT after EMT come and go. So ,I am at the top of the seniority list with a guy who started the same day as me. He however is a supervisor and seniority doesn’t apply to him anymore.

A few weeks ago they put out an email asking us to bid for shifts. I was outbid for the shift I was on and put back on a different shift. That was the fourth time my schedule has changed in my over two years there.

Earlier this week I was told that I will now be working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, thirteen hours each shift. It is what I asked for when asked what I wanted to work. Today, I get a phone call asking what days I absolutely cannot work I told him Saturday and Sunday. He asked if I had to choose one of those days to work which would I choose, I said neither as I cannot work those days. I get my 4 year old son on the weekends and I am not going to lose a day with him. So he asked what days I can work, I have him Monday through Friday and I would want three consecutive days.

He told me that he will try to get me those, but ultimately he will need to put me where they need me.

I guess I will have a choice to make, let them change my schedule again and then in the months have it changed again and another three have it changed again or I can just cut ties with them and find a job that is more consistent.

My ex - wife is getting more and more angry with my shift changes because they effect more than me. They affect her and my children too.

My problem is that I don’t have very many skills. I don’t have a degree. I know how to be an EMT and I know warehousing. The problem with warehousing is that as I get older, my asthma is getting more sensitive and warehouses are very dusty. I don’t want to work in a hospital either. I like being out in an ambulance on the road with no one looking over my shoulder and micromanaging me. I like having just one other person to rely on and not many people. I can get another EMT job with another private company, but it will be more of the same.

I feel stuck and not sure what to do.
 
lonegreywolf20 said:
I feel stuck and not sure what to do.
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Having recently (and still going through) gone through the same situation, I simply resigned. The workplace was toxic and bringing me down mentally, spiritually, and physically.

Its been a tough go, having been out of work since the 1st week in December. Had to make drastic cuts in lifestyle, but with God’s help, the financial situation has worked out, even though I lost a lot of “stuff”.

The decision you are faced with has only 2 immediate courses of action:
  1. Quit and move on
  2. Stay conceding that the suffering is worth the benefits you need.
Good Luck!
 
lonegreywolf20 said:
I like being out in an ambulance on the road with no one looking over my shoulder and micromanaging me.
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Have you ever considered Police Academy? Most Peace Officer training courses take 4.8 months to complete. Your EMT training would still be utilized too.
 
I’m 44 years old. The ability to do the police academy is long past me.
 
You’re right to feel that they are treating you badly.

Feel free to start looking and don’t feel a twinge of guilt about this. But get a new job before leaving your old job. (Sounds dumb to say it, but people do quit without a new job lined up.)

Would grocery work be less asthma-provoking? It might be a good match for your skills.

I would suggest having a look at your community college catalog to see what vocational tracks look like a good fit for your personality and skills.

Best wishes!
 
True story: my dad was almost your age when he studied for and passed the blaster’s exam and did some very lucrative gigs.

He didn’t stick with blasting work long term (among other things, it turned out that handling nitroglycerine gave him headaches), but an old dog can learn new tricks.
 
Unfortunately not on handyman stuff or property management.

Only issue I see with going back to school is I would have to work overnights and then I’m up for 36+ hours a couple days a week. Vocational school is five days a week for 8 hours a day.

I had thought about vocational school before and going for x-ray tech, respiratory therapist or surgical tech. Just the working overnight and having to stay up that long while driving an ambulance and doing patient care scares me.
 
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Whelp, when in doubt see if the county has any open positions. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, Full Time laborer positions open up.

I was fortunate enough to get into the Maintenance Department of a local Metropolitan Park. Now, I just drive around cleaning buildings and assisting with facility maintenance.
 
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lonegreywolf20 said:
I had thought about vocational school before and going for x-ray tech, respiratory therapist or surgical tech. Just the working overnight and having to stay up that long while driving an ambulance and doing patient care scares me.
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I think it might help to separate two things in your mind:

–pay the bills

and

–your career track.

So it might make sense to do a two-step process where you first find an equivalent-paying job that pays the bills while you start researching your career track and then ease into the new track. There are a lot of equivalent-paying positions where you would be less of a danger to yourself and others even if you were up late working on your career track job.

And, even if you loved your current job, at your age (I’m 43 and my husband is 46), it would make still sense to move into something physically less demanding, less stressful, and with better hours at your age and stage of life. As I’m sure you’re aware, we 40-somethings are a lot more injury-prone than younger people doing the same activities.

How old are the kids?

Good luck!
 
That’s a good idea.

My kids are four, that’s my son and six, that’s my daughter. I have my daughter during the week as she goes to school near me and her mom is 40 minutes away.
 
Every working parent faces times when they must choose between work and time with their kids. For the financially comfortable it is still a dilemma. When the choice is food on the table or time with your children, that is a tougher choice.

My son is now a grown man, he cannot remember the times when I had to miss Christmas because I was on call or the weekends when I had to work. He does remember the memories we made when we did have time together.

If there are no other jobs right now, my advice is pick one day and make the other day memorable. Memories don’t have to be expensive, it can be geocaching or going to the local state park, tossing a ball in the yard or learning how to make pancakes.
 
It’s not so much that as it is that his mom won’t stand for it. I am supposed to have him such and such a day, I must have him such and such a day.

Plus family is everything to me and if I only get him one day a week I would feel guilty and it would only cause me issues.

Is hard for me to explain it properly.

I have let this company walk all over me in many things, there has to be a line drawn in the sand somewhere.

I am also not being unreasonable. I gave them five days. They can make three different shifts out of that.
 
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Just be prepared because many jobs in many states can fire an employee if they refuse to work when scheduled.

Keep your resume updated!
 
Oh I know. This is Florida, it is one of those states.

If I get scheduled to work a weekend day from now on, I will quit plain and simple. They have known since the first day over two years ago when I started that I cannot work weekends. This is not a surprise to them.

There is a reason why they cannot hold onto anyone long term besides the normal this is a stepping stone job. They treat the employees like crap and expect them to deal with it. Many don’t and just leave.

At my base, me and the supervisor started the same day. The next one in line seniority wise is a year and two months less than us. Everyone else in between has left because they didn’t want to deal with the crap the company gives us.
 
Have you considered being an Uber driver or Taxi driver,courier or delivering for the Postal Service?
Or studying to be a personal trainer or physio?
 
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Xantippe is correct in that I need to start thinking about my age and what I can reasonably do physically without hurting myself as well as the hours worked. Postal service is heavy lifting and six days a week. Maybe when I was in my twenties and I did take the exam in my twenties, but failed it. Uber driving would kill my car and it’s the only car I have and cannot reasonably buy another one. Haven’t been able to find any courier type jobs as of yet and is something I have looked for.

Taxi driving is an option, but physical trainer or physio? No thanks. I hate exercising as it is, so, I don’t exercise, I wouldn’t make it my job.

Thanks though!
 
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Maybe a bus driver too?
Although I don’t know if many bus driving jobs are still available…
 
I won’t bus drive. Too much responsibility on my shoulders.
 
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